With less than a month left in his term, Villaraigosa chose to send the document via the U.S. Postal Service -- which took six days to deliver -- instead of including an email version in his correspondence.

At an Ontario International Airport Authority meeting on Monday, Alan Wapner, the commission's president, poked fun at the timing of the letter, sent out June 6, saying the LA mayor was interested in negotiations "for the last week that he's in office."

"They are very paranoid about the lawsuit, and I believe rightfully so," Wapner said.

Leaders in the Inland Empire have been critical of Villaraigosa in recent weeks for what they describe as a hands-off approach to the negotiations.

Ontario Mayor Paul Leon, who responded on June 14 to Villaraigosa -- through email and U.S. mail -- said his office did not receive Villaraigosa's letter until June 12.

"This delay is especially unfortunate given the pending transition to a new Los Angeles Mayoral Administration on July 1," Leon writes in the letter. "That leaves very little time for the parties to bridge a considerable gap in their respective settlement positions within a very narrow window of time."

In his letter, Villaraigosa asked that both sides work together in "good faith" to achieve a transfer.

"We can and should get this done. I look forward to talking to you in the very near future to resume our conservations," Villaraigosa writes.

Villaraigosa says that he is in support of redistributing air traffic throughout the region and the long-term growth of ONT, but he made it clear he was only willing to meet as long as Ontario dropped its lawsuit.

The letter was sent one day before the two mayors were together on the tarmac of ONT greeting the Chinese president during his arrival to Southern California on June 7.

In his response, Leon calls Villaraigosa's letter an "unreasonable demand" and said the city would only consider entering into discussions if it dropped its requirement that Ontario not sue LA.

Ontario has been battling the city of Los Angeles and Los Angeles World Airports to regain control of the airport. It took Ontario city officials until late last year to get all parties to the negotiating table.

Even though negotiations were closed-door meetings it quickly became evident that the Los Angeles and the Inland Empire delegations had opposing views on ONT's value.

In April, Ontario filed a claim seeking to dissolve the agreement with Los Angeles, ending negotiations. Ontario filed its lawsuit on June 3.